Washi Tape Collar Stays

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Washi Tape Collar Stays

Should the daddy-o in your life dress more like Don Draper than Stan Rizzo when he goes to work, may I offer this DIY Father's Day gift as an alternative to the tie.  Collar stays are those little arrow-like inserts that fit into a hidden pocket behind the collar of most dress shirts.  They make the curled collar look sharp, and when you are wearing a suit and tie, you should look sharp.  I made my fancy husband a packet of collar stays from using washi tape and opaque plastic. I traced a stay and made a template, cutting my own from a sheet of thick plastic (a binder divider).  I ran the washi tape on either side of the stay, smoothed the ends and trimmed with X-acto knife

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Stone Fruit Salad

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Stone Fruit Salad

I'm a little late getting today's post up, but I had this first grade play about the rainforest to attend, and might I say the jaguar had an excellent performance.  Earlier today I had a breakfast meeting with my friend Pete who is helping me finish my first video post (up next Monday!).  I went to the market and picked up some of the season's first stone fruit and berries.  I get so excited when I start to see peaches and cherries make an appearance, but this early in the season is hit or miss in terms of flavor. It's a good time to use stone fruit and blueberries in a salad, because right now they are more crisp and slightly tart.  I always toss the fruit with a simple lemon-honey dressing to keep the fruit from browning, plus it brightens up the flavor.  We ate our way through this bowl with vanilla scones and my favorite Cole Coffee from Oakland.

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The Long Weekend

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The Long Weekend

We've had one extra boy in tow all weekend.  My nephew Luke came for a visit while his parents are away at a wedding in North Carolina.  The only difference between having two boys and three is that the volume goes up. I think boys are pretty easy to entertain, you nudge them outside and let them go for it, feed them copious amounts of pork products, and scrub their dirty feet at the end of the day. My bathroom is something special right now.  We'll miss our little Lukie when they come pick him up later today.

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How I Scramble Eggs

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How I Scramble Eggs

First of all, let's talk about these eggs. I did not dye them, they come from the farm that way.  I know.  Okay, onto the recipe.  I love having eggs for dinner. They are so quick to make, and they are so satisfying after a long, busy day. When I finished classes on Monday I celebrated by making this dish, paired with a rather large glass of wine. I discovered this recipe for truffled scrambled eggs a few years ago when I ventured over to Brooklyn for a late night dinner at Marlow and Sons while I was in NYC for a trade show.  I've replicated it at home using thinly sliced shitake mushrooms and truffle oil.  The trick to making perfectly satiny scrambled eggs starts with farm fresh eggs like these, with big bright yellow yolks.

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